Mr Brown, who usually drives just 20 miles a week with his wife Pearl to go shopping and see his grandchildren, was one of thousands of motorists who joined a rush for fuel that left the seaside town gridlocked.

“I don’t normally fill the car right up because I only do about 20 miles a week,” he said. “But I just wanted to make sure. When you have a government minister telling you to stock up you have to read between the lines. I took that to mean the strike is on the way and to fill up as soon as you can.”

Local roads were overwhelmed by queues up to half a mile long, leading police to ask seven filling stations to close because of concerns for road safety.

Christchurch, like its bigger neighbour Bournemouth, is famous for its large retirement community.

Its population of 40,000 includes more than 14,000 pensioners, which is more than double the national average.

It is also a true blue area. Of its seven MPs, six are Conservative and the other is a Liberal Democrat. When Conservative ministers talk, the residents of Christchurch listen.

Lorraine Loxton, 47, was filling her car at the Tesco petrol station on Castle Lane East in Christchurch.

She said: “I am worried about running out of fuel, not least because I have to drive my daughter to a Brownie camp on Saturday and I don’t want to be in the position where I can’t get her there because I have no petrol.

“I wouldn’t say I was panic buying, I just don’t want to be without any fuel.

“This petrol station is never usually as busy as this so there must be a lot of panic buying going on.”

Earlier a half-a-mile queue of cars lined up outside the Murco garage in nearby Southbourne, before police closed it down at 11am.

One driver claimed he went past 11 different garages in Bournemouth before he found one that was open.

Other drivers faced an hour-long wait, with some fights breaking out over allegations of queue jumping.

Jason Babbe, 33, said: “I queued up for an hour before I could fill up. While I was waiting I witnessed an argument between a taxi driver and another motorist and there were other rows going on with people taking pictures of each other on their mobile phones.

“As well as filling up their tanks people were filling up cans with petrol.”

Roy Walls described it as being “like the opposite of the Blitz spirit” as he took a walk in Christchurch.

The 66-year-old grandfather of six looked on as the normally quiet suburban street was filled with traffic – and all because it has two petrol stations at either end.

“Nothing has happened and already everybody is panicking. I hate to think what will go on if there is a real crisis.”

By evening most pumps had been sucked dry of unleaded, with only diesel customers able to get fuel.

Paul Harling, 32, who works at nearby Sainsbury’s, said: “It would be the same if they said there was a problem with bakeries, we would have pensioners lining up to buy bread.”

About half a mile away, the Shell station had to be repeatedly closed for 60 minute periods to allow the build-up of traffic outside to ease.

When staff removed the red cones blocking the entrance to the forecourt at 4.35pm it was as if the lights on a Formula 1 starting grid had gone from red to green, said neighbours.

Several cars that had parked strategically round the corner motored into action in a race for the pumps. Within a few minutes the queue had again formed on Barrack Road.

Katherine Cowie, 35, who lives next to the garage, said: “It has been really busy over the past 24 hours and the station has been shut at various points because cars were queueing on the dual carriageway.”

Simon Jones, 30, who works for Royal Mail, said the panic was itself the problem. “I don’t agree with all this panic buying,” he said. “I work for the Royal Mail and our deliveries were delayed by two hours because the vans were stuck in traffic. I have been past five garages and they were all shut by the police.”

Dave Curtis, of the Army Surplus store in Bournemouth, said: “I had more than 20 cans out the front of my shop yesterday and now I’m down to five.

“Taxi drivers have been buying them to guarantee they don’t run out of fuel anytime soon.”